The present invention is directed to a textile fabric for use as the outer shell fabric of a firefighter""s garment.
The outer shell fabric of a firefighter""s garment must be flame, heat, abrasion, tear, and moisture resistant, durable, and lightweight. This outer shell fabric provides the first layer of protection for the firefighter.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,095,549; 5,136,723; 5,701,606; 5,983,409; 5,996,122; and 6,038,700 disclose, among other things, firefighter""s garments having an outer shell fabric made of PBI/aramid fibers.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,299,602 discloses a woven, outer shell fabric made for firefighter""s garments where the warp yarns are multi-filament aramid yarns and the weft yarns are either multi-filament or spun aramid yarns.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,628,065 discloses a firefighter""s hood of a knit fabric formed of a blend of PBI and aramid fibers.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,065,153 and 6,192,520 disclose a woven outer shell fabric for a firefighter""s garments. This fabric has a plain, twill or rip stop weave and the yarns are a mixture of PBI and aramid fibers. The fabric has a weight ranging from 5.5 to 8 OSY, preferably, 7.5 OSY.
One popular outer shell fabric is a woven fabric of spun yarns consisting of PBI and aramid staple. This fabric is known in the market as xe2x80x98PBI GOLD(copyright).xe2x80x99 In the U.S., this fabric generally is made in the following forms: 1) a 7.5 OSY rip stop weave made from a 16/2 c.c. spun yarns consisting of 40% by weight PBI and 60% by weight of a para-aramid; or 2) a nominal 7.0 OSY (actual 7.3 to 7.4 OSY) rip stop weave made from a 21/2 c.c. spun yarns consisting of 40% PBI and 60% of the para-aramid. Internationally, this fabric is in the form of a 6.0 to 6.5 OSY rip stop weave 24-25/2 c.c. spun yarns of 40% PBI and 60% para-aramid, or a twill weave made from 35/2 c.c. spun yarns of 40% PBI and 60% para-aramid.
Another fabric used as an outer shell fabric is marketed under the trade name xe2x80x98Milleniaxe2x80x99 from Southern Mills, Inc. of Union City, Ga. The Millenia fabric is made with a spun yarn consisting of 40% PBO and 60% para-aramid staple.
While xe2x80x98PBI GOLD(copyright)xe2x80x99 has proven to be an excellent outer shell fabric, there is still a need to improve these fabrics. There is a desire to have lighter weight fabrics that have better tear and abrasion resistance.
The present invention is directed to a textile fabric. This fabric is preferably used as the outer shell fabric of a firefighter""s garment. The fabric is a woven fabric of spun yarns and multi-filament yarns. The spun yarn includes a first staple being a polymer selected from the group consisting of PBI or PBO or melamine formaldehyde, and a second staple being an aramid polymer. The multi-filament yarn includes an aramid filament.